My 35th Favorite Song of All-Time

is:

“East Hastings” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Godspeed is the premiere post rock band.  For those of us who are into the genre, they stand as kind of mystical legends, who give almost no interviews, tour very little (although I’ve seen them, once), don’t release their CDs to mainstream outlets, etc etc.  Even having seen them live and in person, I can’t picture what a single member of the band looks like.

An entire mini-industry of imitators has essentially sprung up because of Godspeed (nobody claims Godspeed originated post rock, but they absolutely defined it), but nobody comes even remotely close to doing it like they do it.  Nobody takes their time to build up a long, slow, steady head of steam the way Godspeed does, nobody selects only the most perfect samples or recordings from the real world.  Nobody else is so entirely fucking serious without seeming ridiculous.

“East Hastings” is probably the song most people hear first from Godspeed, because it most exemplifies what Godspeed does so well: a long, quiet early section with a recording the band made of someone out in the “real world” talking, followed by an even longer steady build-up section that builds to a mini-crescendo, followed by a quick pause, and then a murderous burst of final intensity, and then a very long, quiet outro.  Not all Godspeed is this tidy and mind-wracking, but you’ve just got to hear this.  It required a degree of patience, but the patience is what makes the payoff so amazing.

Yes, it’s 17 minutes.  You have time.